Graph data structures comprising nodes and links are used to represent a wide variety of information for numerous types of computer-based applications. For example, applications associated with social networks, drug discovery, precision medicine, fault prediction in large distributed systems, cyber-defense, fraud detection, regulation compliance and the like may all employ graphs for representing respective sets of entities and relationships among the entities. Graph representations of complex dependencies are especially important for various types of machine learning algorithms, which are increasingly used in a number of problem domains. In some cases the information represented in different portions of a graph may have respective associated security requirements, such that access to some portions of the graph may be restricted. Developing scalable graph analysis applications which can handle a wide range of graph data sets with associated security constraints may represent a non-trivial technical challenge.
While embodiments are described herein by way of example for several embodiments and illustrative drawings, those skilled in the art will recognize that embodiments are not limited to the embodiments or drawings described. It should be understood, that the drawings and detailed description thereto are not intended to limit embodiments to the particular form disclosed, but on the contrary, the intention is to cover all modifications, equivalents and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope as defined by the appended claims. The headings used herein are for organizational purposes only and are not meant to be used to limit the scope of the description or the claims. As used throughout this application, the word “may” is used in a permissive sense (i.e., meaning having the potential to), rather than the mandatory sense (i.e., meaning must). Similarly, the words “include,” “including,” and “includes” mean including, but not limited to. When used in the claims, the term “or” is used as an inclusive or and not as an exclusive or. For example, the phrase “at least one of x, y, or z” means any one of x, y, and z, as well as any combination thereof.